The Pursuit of Lily Evans
by stephanieflautist
Summary: Lily Evans refuses to go out with pretentious idiots. How will James Potter convince her otherwise? James Potter's pursuit of Lily Evans with a little help from Sirius Black. Lily & James two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, unfortunately :(

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"So what'll it be, Evans?" James Potter enquires after a long speech listing all of the reasons Lily Evans should be dating yours truly.

"It's still 'no' Potter," She responds for the twenty-seventh time.

"Prey tell, why?"

"Because you're an arrogant git and the last person I'd want to be seen in public with," She retorts exasperatedly. He seems to consider her answer for a moment before his expression turns into a mischievous leer.

"We _are_ in public _Lilypad,_" James fights the urge to roll onto the grass laughing upon seeing her enraged look from the use of the nickname only said when trying to get a rise out of her.

"You are _so_ infuriating!" She yells in her high-pitched voice and storms away towards the Hogwarts Castle.

"You love it!" He yells at her retreating form.

"That went well," His best friend, Sirius Black drawls from his place sprawled across the ground in front of a tree.

"Sirius, almost forgot you were there, so what do you think her problem was this time?"

"Well it may have been the command to go out with you instead of it being a question, or maybe it was the annoyingly smug persistence, it could have even been the use of her most hated nickname _Lilypad, _but when it comes down to it, it was probably just from a deep feeling of contempt towards you forming after six years of absolutely loathing the ground you walk upon," Sirius contemplates.

"I wouldn't exactly say _loathing_. She totally wants me deep, deep, deep down"

Sirius raises his eyebrows, "Oh yes, because her behavior toward you for the last six years clearly indicated repressed love rather than blind hatred," He snickers.

"Onto Plan B then?" James asks disregarding his last statement.

"Afraid so," Sirius replies feigning a look dread.

"We'd better be off then Padfoot," James offers his hand to help Sirius up then they head towards the Gryffindor common room only stopping to hex unsuspecting Slytherins and Hufflepuffs as they pass by – Slytherins on principle and Hufflepuffs because it's just too easy.

They arrive at the portrait of the Fat Lady and tell her the password. The portrait swings open to allow them into the common room where they are immediately greeted by Remus.

"I don't what you two or namely _Prongs _did to unleash Lily Evans' wrath but I wouldn't approach her at the moment," Remus advises.

"Oh, no need to be so pessimistic Remus, I'm James Potter, the opposite sex can't resist me," He says over-confidently and goes to find Lily.

After searching the crowd, he finally finds her sitting in a chair next to the fireplace, completely engrossed in a copy of _Hogwarts: A History_.

He clears his throat loudly and Lily looks up startled then sends him a death glare, which completely redefines the cliché, if looks could kill.

"_What _do you want James?" she asked rudely.

"Well Evans, You stormed away so quickly, I didn't even get to the best part of my list of reasons why we should be dating," he says self-righteously.

"Is that so? Well elaborate if you must," she huffs impatiently but he can see the smallest hint of a grin on her face.

"You're smiling," he points out victoriously.

"What? No I'm not! I hate you," she says and gets out of her seat to be on eye level with him.

"Yes you were, and no you don't, you know you wish you were my girlfriend. Who could blame you really?"

"God do you have to so big-headed all of the time?"

He ponders this for a moment, "Ah… Yeah, but how about this, I'll attempt to be less _pig-headed_ as you so dutifully pointed out, if you let me take you to Hogsmeade next weekend?"

"You're joking right?" she asks disbelievingly.

"Of course not, I might even act like a perfect little gentleman for you," he says mockingly.

"I don't believe it," she counters with a smirk of her own.

"Is that a challenge, Evans?" he asks feigning disbelief at her lack of faith in him.

"Yes I believe it is," she heads towards the girl's dormitories but suddenly turns around to add, "Oh, and James? Do try not to mess this up, you only get one chance."

"You know I never disappoint Evans!" he calls after her and just to annoy her he adds, "Oh and don't forget to wear something pretty for our date!"

Everyone in the common room turns their heads to stare at them upon hearing this. Lily flushes a deep scarlet red and runs up to the dormitories amid wolf-whistles and snickers.

"Nice one James," Sirius high fives him.

"Thank you Sirius. I think I was rather smooth if I don't say so myself," he says satisfied with himself.

Remus' pessimistic voice snaps him out of his haughty reverie, "This can only end badly."

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**A/N: So i hope you all enjoyed that and don't forget to review :)**


	2. Chapter 2

A very frazzled James Potter enters the boy's dormitories where he finds a bored-looking Sirius Black writing a lengthy essay for Potions.

Sirius looks up to see James standing in front of him and before he can say a single word of greeting, he beats him to it, "I can't do it Sirius."

"Do what?" he asks confused as his usually calm and confident best friend, has seemed to have a dramatic change of personality and is pacing back and forth like a deranged lunatic.

"I can't go out with Lily, of course," he replies as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

Sirius rolls his eyes at his friend antics and tries to calm him, "_Yes_ you can, I'm sure you'll converse about how unreasonable this Potions essay is over butter beers and a trip to Zonkos," Sirius reasons, "just stop pacing around like a nutter! You're making me nervous," Sirius sniffs his nose as a dreadful smell overwhelms his senses and he notices something he hadn't before, "and is that a sweat patch? You're perspiring! Dear God James, what the hell is the matter with you? It's just a date."

James ceases his pacing, sits down on his four-poster bed and buries his face in his hands, "God, I know. I'm a joke, acting like a pansy over a _girl _of all the things!" he wails over-dramatically, "James Potter does not get nervous about anything! Least of all a girl," he adds despairingly but a bit more sure of himself.

"There we go, that's better. Just, you know, relax and be yourself," Sirius' face falls at his most like likely bad advice, "or not."

"Sirius please, I've got this," his usual smug attitude is back. He gets up suddenly and smells his armpits, "but first, I think I'll go change my shirt, and maybe put on some cologne."

"You do that."

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Forty minutes later, James is entering the common room to meet Lily for their date, with Sirius trailing closely behind.

The first thing Sirius notices, is that Lily has put a noticeable effort into her appearance. She appears to have done something to her - usually wavy – hair to make it sit straight, and she's wearing dressier clothes than usual – not anything too formal, but still a clear difference to her usual choice of outfit.

"Evans…" James greets taking in her appearance with appreciation, "You clean up nice," he drawls.

"Wish I could say the same," she says disdainfully, surveying his usual messy appearance.

Sirius decides it would probably be best to give the pair some privacy and goes to find Remus. He spots him sitting alone by the fireplace and heads towards him.

"Remus," he greets.

He sits up to greet his friend, "Sirius," he nods.

"Moony I was just thinking, this could quite possibly be the most entertaining event since the incident with Snivellus and James' first attempt at _Levicorpus_."

"Please tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking Sirius?" he asks grimly.

"Oh yes I am," Remus seems sceptical.

"And how exactly would you plan to do this? It's not like we can just follow them into the Three Broomsticks and be their double date, I mean we'd have to be invisible or…" the answer suddenly dawns on him, "James' invisibility cloak. But I really don't think this is a good idea and how would you even…"

Sirius interrupts him, "I'm one step ahead of you mate," he answers pulling the cloak out of his robes to show him, then tucking it safely away again. They spot James and Lily leaving the common room.

"C'mon lets go, they're leaving," the two of them check to see if anyone is watching, when they see that no one is, they slip on the cloak and follow the pseudo couple out of the common room, then out of the Hogwarts Castle then eventually to Hogsmeade.

Ahead of them, they see that James is attempting conversation, but they aren't close enough to hear what he's actually saying. Whatever he's saying though, doesn't seem to impress Lily very much.

"Let's get closer, I can't hear anything," Sirius suggests to Remus and they move closer just in time to hear the end of a story James is recounting.

"…hexed him and he broke out in these huge purple boils," he recites with a chuckle but stops upon seeing Lily's unimpressed frown.

"Charming," she replies indifferently and looks around anywhere but at James' face.

"This is going well," Remus comments sardonically from under the cloak, James looks behind him as if he had just heard something.

"Shhh!" Sirius hisses at him, as James seems to decide that he just imagined a noise, turns his head back around and slings his arm over Lily's shoulders.

"Oh come on Evans, it was just a joke."

Lily shoves his arm off of her shoulders roughly, "Well it wasn't very funny. I don't see why you and your little gang have to get your entertainment from hexing random people."

"Not random people," he justifies and shakes his head, "just the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs," he adds shamelessly.

Lily huffs agitatedly, "You know what? How about we stop story time now and go in here and get a butter beer," she suggests pulling James into the Three Broomsticks unaware of the two invisible teens following.

Lily pulls James into booth in a secluded corner, away from the noisier part of the bar. Sirius and Remus quietly take a seat in the booth immediately adjacent to them.

"Nice choice Evans, now we have a bit of privacy for activities of the more – how should I put it? – Risqué persuasion," he suggests with a kink of his eyebrows. Sirius has to physically restrain himself from snorting at his crassness.

Lily rolls her eyes, "You wish."

Unfazed, James replies, "Oh you know I do Evans, all…"

"For your own sake," she interrupts, "don't finish that sentence," she warns sternly.

"Ok then, how about you get us both some butter beers then," he suggests holing out a few galleons for her to take, "it's on me."

Lily looks annoyed at being ordered around but gets up to order the drinks nonetheless. It's all of two seconds later before he is turning to Sirius and Remus' booth to hiss, "I don't know what you two are playing at but you'd better be gone by the time Evans gets back."

"No can do Prongs," Sirius replies stubbornly from under the cloak. "How did you know we were following you anyway?"

"Are you kidding," he snorts. "You two may have the whole covert secrecy going for you because you're wearing _my_ cloak, but when it comes to slyness and stealth, well let's just say those are my forte not yours."

"Are charm and eloquence also your forte? Because your last few remarks to Lily seem to firmly disagree with that," he teases mercilessly. "What was it he said Moony?"

"Oh I know," he doesn't bother waiting for Remus' reply, "it was something along the lines of '_now we have a bit of privacy for activities of the more risqué persuasion_'," he imitates smirking.

James goes pink in the face, horrified, "Shut up and just piss of before she gets…" he stops as he turns his head to see Lily approaching carrying two butter beers and quickly turns around so his back is facing his invisible friends. "Leave," he mumbles quietly but loud enough so only they can hear him. They ignore his order and stay right where they are unmoving.

Lily sets the two glasses down on the table in front of James and sits down in the seat next to him. "Thanks Evans," he takes a sip gratefully.

"You know just for future reference, when on a date, the guy is usually the one getting the drinks," she tells him and takes a sip of her drink. It is apparent that she is at least slightly annoyed at his lack of dating etiquette.

"Future reference?" James questions, "You mean you're actually considering doing this with me again," he mocks but it is apparent to the other three teens that he is more than pleased with this, "I'm shocked," he smirks broadly.

She rolls her eyes. "I meant future reference for other dates," she corrects. James does not seem pleased at all by this.

"What have you already got Snivellus waiting on baited breath for a little play date and thought you'd weigh-out your options first," he practically snarls. Sirius and Remus were surprised he didn't turn green from the amount of poorly concealed jealousy radiating off of him.

"Not that it's any of your business, but _Severus_ and I aren't friends anymore," she says sharply, James looks embarrassed at having jumped to conclusions.

"When did this happen?" he tries and fails to sound casual. Lily looks hesitant but decides to answer him.

"Ever since after the O.W.L.s when he called me a," she stops herself just before she says it, "well I'm sure you remember what he said," she looks down at her feet dejectedly. James is unsure what to do but decides to wrap an arm around her shoulders comfortingly.

"I'm sorry," he says earnestly, she looks up at him disbelievingly with a raised eyebrow.

"_Please_," she draws out the word to emphasise her disbelief, "you're not sorry, you hated that I was friends with him," she reminds.

"True," he confirms, "but I'm sorry you're upset about it." Lily, Sirius and Remus are all extremely surprised again at his sincerity. Upon seeing the look on her face, he becomes embarrassed and tries to cover up what he would have described as his "moment of weakness". "And besides you have a perfectly good and very single I might add," he attempts to seem like his arrogant self, "shoulder to cry on."

Lily chuckles a bit, smiles a wide genuine smile at him and moves a bit closer to him. "I'll keep that in mind," she says before leaning in to kiss him softly on the lips.

"Go James," Sirius whispers to Remus as they watch the kiss that started out chaste and sweet turn into a full blown snogging, from what they can see of James' face, he looks entirely too pleased with himself.

"I must admit, making her go from criticising his manners to snogging him in all of five minutes was mildly impressive," Remus admits bemused.

"A bit more than mildly," Sirius supports his best friend. "You think maybe we should give them some privacy?" He suggests.

"Yes definitely," he agrees looking away from the public display of affection with slight repulsion.

Remus and Sirius slide out of the booth as quietly as they can and try to make it to the exit while making sure the cloak covers every inch of them, although it probably wouldn't matter anyway as the pseudo couple are too preoccupied to notice a bomb dropping, let alone their friends ceasing their spying.

They eventually make it through the front exit, and then proceed to find an unpopulated place to take off the cloak.

"Finally," Sirius says after he has removed it, "I was getting claustrophobic under there," he complains.

"It was your idea," Remus reminds him.

"Yes. Your point?" he asks obstinately. Remus doesn't bother answering him as at that moment, James and Lily walk out of the Three Broomsticks holding hands and looking very much like two love struck teens.

"Oh look the happy couple has finally abandoned the love nest!" Sirius yells boisterously and James and Lily whip their heads around to where the two are standing.

"Sirius, Remus, not now," he tries to give them a pointed look that just screams at them to piss off, and Lily for the most part, just looks surprised at Sirius' spunk.

"Oh come on Prongs, lets not be too hasty," Sirius strides up to the pair and cuts through the middle of them so he can throw his arm around both of their shoulders. "We should be celebrating the long awaited union of our two friends. We all knew it was coming sooner or later, didn't we Remus?" Sirius turns to look at his friend standing awkwardly a few feet away from them.

"How about you leave a poor bystander out of this," he suggests pleadingly.

Sirius decides to be merciful. "Fine then," he moans over-dramatically. "Lily, do you have any comments to make about your recent submission to the dark side?

"Sirius, just stop, please, you're embarrassing yourself," she pleads. Sirius, annoyed at his dismissal takes his arms off of both of their shoulders.

"Fine, I'll stop," he huffs childishly.

"Thank you," the other three groan simultaneously. Sirius' rebuffed look quickly changes to a smirk as he says, "You know what this means don't you?" The stare at him awaiting his answer, "Raging party in the common room tonight to celebrate!"

"No," Lily and James say together, both horrified at the thought of publicly announcing their new relationship, and the four of them begin to walk towards the Hogwarts Castle.

As they walk along the path to Hogwarts, Sirius is still making suggestions, "Ok, how about we at least find some way to commemorate this day. Maybe an impromptu prank on some unsuspecting Slytherin?"

"I always did want to get them back for the Halloween incident," James muses, "Or maybe…"

Lily interrupts, "No, no, no, no, no. How about we all just hang out tonight? Remus do you agree," she asks the one person who she knows prefers to avoid possible confrontations almost as much as she does.

Before Remus can reply, James snorts obnoxiously, "Hanging out? What's the fun in that when there's so much potential chaos to stir-up?"

"I guess that's a 'no' then," Remus says gloomily.

"Cheer up Moony, we'll find something fun for you to do this time," says James.

"Yes much like the last time, and the time before that, and the time before that," he replies.

"Something tells me Moony's not looking forward to our impending exploits," Sirius jokes.

"I don't know what could have possibly given you that impression," says Lily.

"Was that a note of sarcasm I detected in your voice Evans?" James asks feighning shock.

"Don't act so surprised," she sniggers. James throws his arm around her shoulders.

"There's my feisty girl," he says with a proud grin.

"I'm not your girl," she says stubbornly. James is unfazed by her denial.

"Oh so it was some other girl I was snogging back there?" He asks and Lily turns bright red.

"No need to look so embarrassed Lily, Moony and I saw you two in your moment of bliss anyway." Sirius says and if possible Lily turns an even brighter shade of red, Sirius, taking a merciless pleasure in her mortification continues, "You know you had this precious little love-sick look on your face, it was so pathetically endearing," he mocks.

Lily stomps away angrily in humiliation and Sirius laughs hard.

"I guess I'd better go after her," James says and runs off to calm her down.

"That was fun," he concludes "just think Remus, a whole year of getting to antagonise James' girlfriend, I'll never be bored again."

"I know you won't," he replies knowingly.

The two friends continue the path along to Hogwarts discussing the recent events and joking about ways to torment Lily and James' recent coupling.

Oh yes, it was true; they'd certainly never be bored again.

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**Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns everything in this story. I sadly own nothing.**

**A/N: So this was actually meant to be a one-shot but a few people wanted more so i decided to add a second part. Just in case anyone's wondering, i didn't have Wormtail in this because I refuse to have that treacherous vermin in any of my stories. "He was their friend and he betrayed them. He was their friend!" Okay I'll stop my mini-rant and quoting of the Prisoner of Azkaban now, so I hope you all enjoyed that and don't forget to review :)**


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